1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to programming and sending a call alert based on a schedule and message generated by a subscriber.
2. Acronyms
The written description provided herein contains acronyms which refer to various telecommunications services, components and techniques, as well as features relating to the present invention. Although some of these acronyms are known, use of these acronyms is not strictly standardized in the art. For purposes of the written description herein, the acronyms are defined as follows:                Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN)        Authentication/Subscription Information (ASI)        Central Office (CO)        Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA)        Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF)        Electronic Key Telephone System (EKTS)        Enhanced Media Resource Server (eMRS)        Extensible Markup Language (XML)        File Transfer Protocol (FTP)        Generic Data Interface (GDI)        Graphical User Interface (GUI)        HyperText Mark-Up Language (HTML)        HyperText Transfer Language Protocol (HTTP)        Incoming Call Manager (ICM)        Intelligent Peripheral (IP)        Interactive Voice Response (IVR)        Internet Call Waiting (ICW)        Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)        Outgoing Call Control (OCC)        Operator Services Trigger (OST)        Personal Computer (PC)        Personal Call Manager/Personal Communications Manager (PCM)        Personal Identification Number (PIN)        Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS)        Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)        Service Control Point (SCP)        Service Management System (SMS)        Service Node/Intelligent Peripheral (SN/IP)        Service Switching Point (SSP)        Signaling System 7 (SS7)        Signaling Transfer Point (STP)        Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)        Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)        Uniform Resource Locator (URL)        Uniform Resource Name (URN)        Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP)        World Wide Web (WWW)        World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)        
3. Background Information
Callers dial “0” to reach a live operator for a variety of reasons. While some of these callers in fact need direct operator assistance, many calls to operator assistance may be handled without human intervention. To this end, interactive voice response (IVR) systems may be employed that provide a menu of options from which callers may choose. As the needs of different persons vary, it would be desirable to allow persons to customize the menu of options that are presented to the caller when the caller dials “0”. The customization may be provided for in a number of manners.
Currently, subscribers to call control services within the public switched telephone network (PSTN) are able to initiate and modify their services by calling a customer service representative or by interacting with an IVR system using a standard dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) telephone device. Some systems allow subscribers to perform these functions using packet switched data networks such as the Internet. It would be advantageous to allow subscribers to customize their operator services menu options using an IVR and/or the Internet.